The Varlet and the Voyeur

TEST

I love a great sports romance and the Rugby series has been a reliably sexy, romantic and wholly satisfying treat for this fan. After the disappointment that was the third book, The Cad and the Co-ed, I’m pleased to say that normal service has been resumed and L.H. Cosway and Penny Reid have scored another try with The Varlet and the Voyeur.  Too bad it’s the last one in the series!

William Moore is in trouble.  A respected and well-behaved member of the Irish rugby team, he’s somehow managed to keep his private life out of the public eye, but unfortunately, that’s all about to change.  A prostitute has accused him of hiring her and another woman to have sex while he watched, and her story is about to be splashed across the tabloids.  There is an element of truth to the allegations:  Will was watching a couple have sex – but they were all consenting adults, and they had a long-standing agreement in place.  Will never hired a prostitute and is vehemently against exploitation in any form, including porn, but the press doesn’t care.  The team wants to help him weather the media storm – but the attention is intense, painful and relentless.

At twenty-six, Josey Kavanagh, who has never moved out of her parents’ home, has finally settled on an academic path after several false starts, and she’s confident she’s finally on the right track.  Unfortunately, when her parents confess they’re nearly broke, they also ask her to move out and start paying her own college expenses.  Hurt and angry, she finds a temporary home with her friends Eilish and Bryan (featured in The Cad and the Co-ed) and their young son Parker.  Josey isn’t an ideal roommate for the family of three. After a few sleepless nights with Josey (she screamed in the middle of the night after spotting a spider on her ceiling; her dog woke the neighborhood by barking at 3:00 am), Bryan is at his wits end, until he has a GREAT IDEA.  Josey can move in with his teammate (and former roommate) Will and keep an eye on him.  After a coffee date, Will also decides it’s a good idea, and invites Josey to move in.

I struggled with the start of this novel.  First, Will is a bit of an oddity.  He’s a good guy and unapologetic voyeur, even as shit is about to hit the fan.  He knows he didn’t do enough due diligence with the couple he watched, but he’s mostly angry about the accusation that he hired a prostitute.  When he meets Josey, he admires her honesty and integrity, and is bemused by her dreadful interpersonal skills.  She has a hard time not blurting out whatever comes to mind and her social skills are… well, they’re pitiful.  Which leads me to my second complaint, concerning the authors’ characterization of Josey in this part of the book.  Josey is talkative, honest to a fault, awkward, and self-deprecating – I think they were going for quirky – and it’s off-putting, making it  difficult, nearly impossible, to believe the quiet and reserved Will would want to live with her.  But not only does he want that, he wants to pay her college expenses, provide her with pocket money (lots of it!) AND she gets to live in his swanky apartment for free.  Friends, it’s all a bit much.  Fortunately, from the moment Josey and Will move in together, the focus transitions to their dynamic as roommates and the novel sparkles from here on out.

Josey and Will become friends, quickly discovering their differences balance each other out and that they complement one another.  They find a rhythm living together and sharing a home, and everything is great until Will – innocently snooping (really, it is) spots a sex toy in Josey’s shower.  He can’t stop all the lurid images that flood his mind when he pictures her using it, and begins to have more frequent lustful fantasies about his clever and funny companion.  The relationship abruptly changes after Josey agrees to accompany him on a double date with another celebrity (arranged to improve his public image).  Josey’s awareness of her attraction to Will is initially a simple desire for his supremely hot body.  It creeps up on her but she suppresses the feelings, sure he doesn’t feel the same way.  So when they’re alone on the dance floor and Will tells her he wants her, she’s shocked and thrilled at his confession and admits she feels the same way.  Josey, anxious about what might happen after they get home, asks him to stop for food first.  After a slightly bizarre conversation wherein he confesses he doesn’t date unless he’s considering marrying the person (just go with it reader) and she tells him she doesn’t want to get married, they agree to try a friends with benefits arrangement during an upcoming trip to Australia for a rugby tournament.  They also set up ground rules – lots of them – and agree to stay platonic friends until the trip.

All the chemistry and lust simmering between them finally finds an outlet in Australia. It’s a mostly no holds barred sexy sex-fest with a side of happy, contented companionship.  The authors do a tremendous job juxtaposing the things their friends and acquaintances view as flaws with how Will and Josey perceive each other.  Those same qualities make them irresistible to the other and from the moment they move in together, Will and Josey are best friends and partners.  He’s protective and possessive, she’s kind and accepting and the perfect foil to Will’s serious side.  Unfortunately, there are also those pesky pre-trip rules which they both secretly hate but are too cowardly to speak up about.  The trip unfolds and both realize they’re falling in love (though neither admits it), but their stupid, weird dating vs. friends with benefits conversation trips them both up.

Fortunately, however, the authors don’t allow the situation to go on for too long, and their make-up conversation/argument is alternately sappy and sweet. The delightfully charming epilogue – which provides one last peek at the other terrific couples featured in earlier books in the series – left me with a smile on my face.

I confess, I almost DNF’d The Varlet and the Voyeur after the first few chapters.  Yep, you read that right.  The initial setup is ridiculous.  But.  Once our principals meet and move in together, this novel and these characters are pure sexy delight. I hate that the series is ending, but The Varlet and the Voyeur proves this writing pair saved their best for last.

Buy it at: Amazon/Barnes & Noble/iBooks/Kobo

 

Reviewed by Em Wittmann

Grade: A-

Sensuality: Warm

Review Date: 14/06/18

Publication Date: 06/2018

Recent Comments …

  1. excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.

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Kristie(J)
Kristie(J)
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07/09/2018 5:08 pm

This one WAS a DNF for me. Josey was very tiresome and exhausting and I just didn’t get the humour. Unless you get that the book doesn’t work the way it’s supposed to and with me, it didn’t work.

Maria Rose
Maria Rose
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06/14/2018 8:38 am

I really enjoyed this one too! I love that Penny’s book always have unconventional main characters.